Showing posts with label fermentation dyeing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fermentation dyeing. Show all posts

Friday, June 19, 2015

early summer harvests



Summer has finally started here in my little Breton home ! I'm still experimenting a lot with fermentation dyeing and right now I'm harvesting everything that could be useful.

Have a look...



The front garden, which is mainly a herb garden.
I work with a lot of herbs,
for medicine, beverages, incense, food
and of course dyes...




Broad-leaved Dock roots




Zen
or the art of harvesting willow bark




and apple tree bark




clockwise: barks from oak, apple tree, willow and plum tree




a few fibers waiting to be dyed




some fallen Eucalyptus leaves
water from the river, common sorrel, wood ash
fermented
dyed
sheep wool, alpaca and silk yarn, paper thread



Thanks for visiting

...



Monday, June 01, 2015

The first shade of summer


birch, berk, bouleau, björkar, betula...

bezv (brezhoneg)




alpaca-silk & Poll Dorset - fermentation dyeing



actually it's not summer at all
in fact it's quite cold here in Brittany
so fermentation dyeing is starting very, very slowly

more sooner or later

...


Tuesday, May 12, 2015

The new colour season has started...



Different herbal dye vats are fermenting right now.
I've put them in my living room next to the wood burner because it's still chilly outside.

dandelion flowers, birch leaves, dock roots, eucalyptus leaves, woad flowers
all from my garden

I won't show pictures of the fermenting vats, instead some pictures of my place:



I can assure you that there are enough dandelions to share with the bees
picture is taken from my neighbor's meadow



Chinese rhubarb, which I sometimes use in the dyeing process



Woad flowers and forget-me-not's, such a lovely sight !
While the woad leaves are harvested the first year for the most divine blues, 
the flowers of the following year are great for a yellow dye 



I haven't tried to dye with Valerian yet, 
I will give it a try this summer
my cat, on the other hand, gets high from the roots



A view of the back yard with two oaks, 
every year a few dead branches give me some lichen 
In the back, the vegetable garden



a small herbal dye garden in the front yard, where motherplants grow:
a few woads, madder, dyer's chamomile, dyer's broom, pomegranate 
and seedlings of orange cosmos, marigold, pokeweed, St Johns wort, 
coreopsis, weld and others




a small pond with one of my favorites, the yellow iris which roots gives a blue-grey dye
I will do some fabric printing tests with the iron rich soil on the bottom of this pond



a little well hidden in the back yard
which I have named
Urdarbrunnr
the well of Urd


:)

I'm going to be more of a dyer than a designer this year
I hope you still will follow me and my dye-experiments on this blog
Comments are always welcome
Thank you for visiting

...






Tuesday, October 21, 2014

...shades of Gold...



I discovered something this week:

I really, really love to dye fibers with plants !


But I knew that already

of course I did ...





some lace merino and silk-alpaca dyed with Marigolds (Calendula officinalis) , using the fermentation method

In dutch this herb is called goudsbloem - gold flower -

And the colour is exactly that: the most exquisite light apricot gold !

The actual shade is difficult to capture with a camera but you get the idea 

...


Wednesday, July 30, 2014

For the dyers...

two interesting links today:

Riihivilla from Finland wrote a great blog post about her experiments with fermentation dyeing.
Don't miss it!

You can read it here:





and here’s a (French) film about “Couleur Garance”


Couleur Garance is a Conservatory Garden of dye plants situated in the South of France.

It is remarkable for many reasons. It is planted on the terraces of the 18th century Château de Lauris.
The gardens overlook the Durance river valley.
The gardens are very unique in Europe and are entirely dedicated to vegetable dyes, 
with over 300 different plants from all over the world!

I’ve been there three times already, I just love it, it’s a wonderful garden and I consider it an absolute must-see for all dyers who visit the South of France.

Garance is the french word for madder (Rubia tinctorum)

La Calade
84360 LAURIS
Tél. : 04 90 08 40 48
http://www.couleur-garance.com


Opening times, from 08 may to 31 octobre 2014

In season: every day but Monday from 9am to 12 / 3pm to 7pm. Guided tours on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 5pm.